Greek green bean salad.

Bring water to a roiling boil.   

Wash a bag of green beans and cut the ends off of them.   

Prep a colander on the sink with ice cubes.  

Back up ice cubes, you will need 2 batches.   

Meanwhile, cut two medium tomatoes.   Deleted them amd chop finely,   

De seeding  tomatoes.   Seeds will make the. Salad runny.   

When pot is boiling, place green beans on pot , 1/2 at a time and boil for three or four minutes or until they are crisp lender.   

Chopped tomatoes 

Chop a washed red pepper.   It is easier to chip from the meaty side than the outside.   

When green beans have been cooked slightly, gove them an ice water bath,   To stop the cooking process.   

Cut cooled beans in bite sized pieces.   

Make an dressing of 2 parts olive oil and I part vinegar.  Add garlic, chopped, oregano, parsley, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper.   I wished it on the. I may, but you can do ot by hand too.    Toss with salad ingredients in a bowl.   

Chill.   

When ready to serve,  plate o, amd top with feta cheese.  Let stand a few minutes to warm up.   

Next : finished picture.   

Terrific Tuesday

tonight I am going to make a Greek Green Bean salad .   My husband picked up a sack of green beans at Costco Sunday.  I picked up another red pepper for .88 and some feta cheese at Winco.    I also got a piece of Romano cheese.  It was cheaper than buying it already grated.    Don't buy that stuff in a can.    It has wood fiber  in it.   The closer to the real thing you can buy is better.  There is just some things that it is not judicial to buy cheap.    They have come out with the fact that reak butter is better for you than the fake stuff.    Real is always better than fake.    I also got white fish because we were low and it is  cheapest at Winco.

I am pretty much caught up on replenishing the freezer.   My grocery budget is through the roof, but the rest of the month all o have to buy is fresh and things are cheaper in the summer.    I got really good fresh veggies at Fred Meyer and the most I will have to buy is dairy.    

Last year, I spent 68.00 a week, net.   This year up until the freezer disaster, I was at 63.00.   That has nothing to do with COL prices, prices, but, rather, the fact that we were in a position with a big shake up in the food industry here that we only had Kroger and Haggens for grocery stores.    That left no competition, and prices were higher.    Since Winco took over the top foods ( Haagen) building and brought some competition to the mix.    Fred cheers niw has a lower prices campaign.    Fred Meyers and QFC are owned by Kroger.    Albertsons and Safeways have merged and are owned by Albertsons.   Haggen stores are out there, but they too are owned by Albertsons.   Albertsons has added a few mega sales , but other than that, they are pretty pricey.  

Enter alternative stores.   Big lots has a twenty percent sale a couple of times  a year.    If you have their "rewards type card " you get special privilege to go Saturday afternoon before things are picked over.    

Grocery Outlet is cheaper on some things,   Some things are here today, gone tomorrow.   They will send you e mail alerts if you want and knowing your prices and checking pull dates is key,    Sometimes you can score a really good , almost free deal on things that arems I'll good, but need to be used soon.  It just means a little meal plan adjustment.   

The Dollar Tree  has a few real food,they have things  that are made in the USA, or Italy, Spain.   Watch prices, some are small quantities and are not as cheap as the regular store.   It is always good to look at pull dates.    They have name brand turkey bacon, catsup, Betty Crocker  cake mix ( sometimes cheaper at Winco,) the pizza sauce is good. If they have it, pinto beans are a dollar for 2 pounds, USA and no GMO.    Name brand pretzels are a real bargain. 

Costco is good for some things.    We safe enough in gas to pay for our membership.   Last week, it was .50 cheaper a gallon than our cheapest source.   We have seen it as cheap as a dollar less.   It doesn't take much to save the membership fee.  So,emthings, again are cheaper, some not.  Again, you need to know your prices.   Take a small calculater, some unit prices are ounces, not pounds or per can.   I am always comparing.    They have roasted red pepper and tomato soup sometimes for about half of what the grocers charge.    Green beans canned are lowest sodium I have found.  They have a brown and serve baguette that is about a dollar and keeps a long time in the fridge.   Bulk rice is cheaper.    As is bananas, blue cheese, and bacon.   

I don't have a SAMs club card.   Maybe someone can comment about their prices.    

Some of the bakery outlets are not a lot cheaper.   You can do better either making it yourself or buying Winco.   I got good bread for 1.78 at Winco.   

 

Happy 4th of July!

It's a lazy day today.    I worked virtually all day on food yesterday.   The pantry is cleaned and the chicken is deboned and chicken stock made.   I got 14 meals from 11.75 worth of chicken breast,  that's considering we use a whole chicken breast a meal.   These breasts were over a pound a piece.    Three of us eat chicken.    I also cut up cantaloupe and veggies for our pasta dish for dinner.    

I am researching sloppy joe recipes.   I'm still liking my recipe from the 70s.   Hambirger, catsup, dry mustard, water, and liquid smoke.   We always have liquid smoke because my husband makes beef jerky.    I have purchased catsup for as low as .75.  

My target price for catsup is a dollar.   I can always get the name brand catsup at the tree.    During holiday weekend sales, it can be cheaper.  Alberways had it for .80 if you bought ten if their items a couple of months back,   I got catsup and vegetarian refried beans,  

When there is a sale like that, I watch to be sure everything is at a RBP.   Refried beans are cheaper by a few cents at Costco, but they don't carry vegetarian.  

Surprise, I'm over budget last week for groceries.     I restocked the freezer pretty much.  Double coloration of beef and a quadruple portion of chicken.    Not to mention some shrimp and cod.   But, we will make it up with not buying meat for several weeks,    I don't need a protein rotation,   Pinto beans are still the cheapest at the tree, but I have only found them at Edmonds.    The other trees don't seem to have them.    Maybe seasonal?  

I am seeing u tubes where the person preps ingredients  for a weeks worth of meals making it  easier to cook quickly at mealtime.    I am also seeing where freezer meals are some for as much as a months worth of cooking.   I usually cut something up, especially of it is getting too ripe.   I can get it in green cartons and stop the ripening.    Obviously, we eat that first.    Washing the sink or a dedicated pan and filling it with vinegar water to clean veggies makes sense to do all the fresh produce at one time.     I use a dedicated scrubber brisk and disinfect it with vinegar after each use or out it through the dishwasher.  

Yesterday, we made chocolate rice crispy treats.    There is a bog difference between prices  for marshmallows.    My target price is a dollar.    Again, they are always a dollar at the tree.    Usually a dollar at Winco.    I have seen them for as much as 25 percent more.    That's a lot when you are on a thrifty budget.    Cocoa crispies are not on sale a lot, but you can get the, in bags at Winco.   I keep them in a Tupperware type container. Air is the enemy of freshness.    My target price for butter is two dollars a pound.   I have seen it for 2/9.00.   And, it wasn't from Ireland.    LOL.

The biggest step in groceries on the cheap is to know prices and set boundaries on discretionary items-- things you don't have to buy. Buying things at RBP and reducing waste is the key.   

I have target prices on things -- my top dollar, so to speak.    If something is more than my target price , I don't buy it and I would prefer to get ot at a RBP.   Every month dairy goes on a good sale t Fred Meyers.    I stock as far ahead as the pull dates will dictate.    My back up plan is Costco on anything that we can use up before the pull date.   I check pull dates and adjust meal plans to use up things.   Being diligent about reducing waste is the second key factor in reducing your food costs.  

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 
The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until ot goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Meals

Meal plans are necessary to keep food costs down.   They help because you are less likely to throw food out if you incorporate the oldest food first.   In business, they call that FIFO.  First in, first out,    

I took some time yesterday to take everything off the glass jar shelf on the pantry,    I took inventory by listing the product and the pull dates.  I found artichokes that are dated June 30.    Foods don't abruptly die on the specific pull date.   We are going to have them for dinner tonight-- a few days last their date.   I see I bought them at Big Lots.  The dollar process is on them, which means I paid  .80.   I plan to add them to the .48 can of Alfredo sauce I bought last week, and add red pepper, peas, and some chicken pieces and serve over spaghetti  I also bought on sale.    That's still a five dollar dinner.  If the sauce doesn't stretch far enough, I will add cream or sour cream.   

Meals ) I cranked these out while waiting for lunch to cook).  

1. Pasta Alfredo . Italian bread 
2. Sweet and sour meatballs.  Brown rice ( grocery outlet ) 
3. Potluck : Greek green bean salad 
4. Pizza -buffalo chicken 
5. Hamburgers, suddenly salad, corn on the cob ( 4th of July) 
6. Breakfast for dinner 
7. Salmon cesear salad 

Notes : I'm making croutons from the peppercorn, parm Italian bread I made a few days ago.    Chicken. Breast are .88 again at Fred Meyers.  I'm hoping there's some left when  I get there. I will de-bone them and cook the bones .  There is always chicken left on the bone when I de-bone.  I'm not as good as the butcher ,m it I get a couple more meals from the bones.    A cup of chicken pieces and a cup of grated cheese bough at RBP is a little more than a dollar.    Add a scratch pizza crust and a little ranch or blue cheese salad dressing and some red pepper sauce and you have buffalo chicken pizza.   You can tone it down if you don't like HOT.   

The tomato sauce in bags are still .50 at the grocery outlet -- for a liter.   I got meatballs for .98.   Add some peppers (.69 ) and 1/2 a can of pineapple chunks and you have sweet and sour meat balls ( over rice ).  Another way less than five dollar Dinner.    

Greek green bean salad is a splurge.     Green beans are 149 at Freddie's today.    Add feta and red pepper and tomato.   ( Pinterest) 

Suddenly salad was .75 with coupons and hamburgers are 249 a pound at Costco. Buns are .68 at Winco,   I bought suddenly salad a month ago when Safeways had it on sale.    The meat was purchased in a monthly Costco stock run?  I purchased the buns this week.    I'm answer to do I shop all those stores every week.    Not usually.    Corn on the cob is on sale every where this week.    There are a lot of,yum,y recipes for toppers out there.   

Breakfast for dinner is always a low cost meal.  

I have frozen salmon in the freezer that was upstairs.   I will make the croutons from old bread.    Parm is a staple around here.   I either buy it grated fresh when the price is right, or I buy it in a block and run it over the micro plane.   Of parm is too expensive, I check Romano or another hard cheese that I get at Costco for 12.00 a huge wedge.    It lasts a really long time.  In other words, I buy whatever hard cheese that is on sale when I need it.    

.  Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until it goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Tomorrows Fred Meyers ad

Fred Meyers add - TOMORROW

Sunday and Monday ONLY

Tomatoes .77
Split chicken breast ,88
Corn 5/2

*****
Berries  1.77
Lettuce .99
Radishes .50
Cucumbers .50
Green beans 1.49
Spinach .99
Leaf lettuce .99
Zucchini .99
Cilantro 2/.99
Frozen veggies .99$$


The P and G in tomorrow's paper has .50 off puffs.    They are at the dollar tree    That makes a box .50.    And .50 off one bounty basic also at the dollar tree.


Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 
The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until ot goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Lists

During my career I had the pleasure  of working as a systems administrator for an office furniture manufacturer.    I worked in a glass box and had to be picture perfect everyday because salesmen give tours of the facility to show the furniture.    The good news is that I had state of the art furniture and a very pleasantly decorated office.   The bad news, was that my hair, nails and wardrobe had to be sophisticated too.  

I digress,. One of the perks was that we got to go to seminars on a host of topics.   Management school was one of them.   One of the "tools" they taught was a prioritized list.  It's a simple concept that works well. If I don't have a list, I can ditz the day off and not accomplish much.    A list keeps me focused.    Looking at my list , I can prioritize by what can be doing itself while I do other things and what needs to be done first.    Peeping dinner is usually one of the first things.   Putting things to soak, or getting the wash in would probably be second.  

Another theory I saw and tried years ago, was to list everything that needs to be done on index cards. Get a recipe box and dividers and shuffle th cards so that everything that needs to we done, weekly, monthly or yearly has a place in the box.   You pull that days cards and pick a day for the monthly and yearly chores.    That was a little too ridgid for me,   I do make it a point to wash the hood screen on the dishwasher in the first of the month.   I usually pick a day to clean and pick the thing that is shouting NASTY !    LOL.  


I have a list on my meal plan sheet of things that I usually buy.  --dairy and veggies.   I cross off anything that we don't have and out them on the other side of the sheet in the to buy column.  

This is really easy if done on the computer. - still not hard if you do it by hand .

I have a spiral notebook ( small) that I keep by the computer desk.   It's really handy for jotting down telephone messages and other notes, and I use it to write to do lists.    Giving each a number was the drill  in management school, but these days I can do it in my head.  

Obviously, things happen that derail your plans.....a sick baby, e,regency babysitting, flooded garage.....etc.  

In other words.    (&($(& happens.    


Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 
The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until ot goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Dinner.

Dinner : corn on to cob. Leftover rice with leftover veggies, ribs.  

And then....

we went to grocery outlet and dollar tree this morning, and then to feed Meyers because I needed a couplemofmfill On my way! from Fred Meyers and I want to grab bags from the dollar store.   

Naturally, they were out of grab bags at the dollar tree, but o did get the berry savers and edifices for the kitchen drawer that had a 40 plus yo broken divider......its soooo old that it is harvest gold! Lol.   

Grocery outlet netted ribs for dinner ( 3.99) and  green giant green beans 2/.79.   

Fred Meyers  netted best foods mayonaise with a coupon (in store) and a printed coupon -  1.50

Corn,on the cob for dinner with our ribs.    

A free 42 ounce bottle of low carb ocean spray juice.   

And I replenished the parm.   It was on sale for 299

About all.    

Freaky Friday

This is the second anniversary of my breaking my hip.   It's still not well.   It happened in a split second. It's just a reminder that life has its hiccups. And stocking a pantry makes it easier to keep home fires burning when you are away or not able to do things yourself.

That's where stocking  and having some freezer meals ready saves the day.   Take out is usually not the best nutrition and its expensive and can get old in a hurry.   Pre cooking saves  money and gives a lot of piece of mind in the process.

I really can't see how some of the freezer meals help - the ones that just take meat and add a can of this and a can of that.   It only takes a few minutes to add a few cans of something to a pot.  It doesn't make sense to take something that is taking pantry space and put it on the freezer.  Our freezer space is more limited. Now, the things that take a lot of chopping is a different matter.   This works especially if you piggy back some recipes that take the same meat ( you can buy bulk) and the same basic ingredients.   Use your food processor or a mandolin to bulk chop vegetables.   Make double batches of anything you know your family will like.   I wouldn't make huge batches of a new recipe.  

I went to a class on cooking  for a day and making a months worth of meals a few decades ago.   It doesn't make sense to me.  It is an exhausting task, and freezer meals could get old after a while.   That being said, different people have different obstacles to overcome.   If the main cook is away at dinner time because of work or school, it would make more sense to have a crockpot at the ready for family to eat when you aren't there.  

It would have been handy if I had known I was going to break my hip and land in rehab for a month.   As it was, my daughter stepped up to the plate and cooked for the month.    She made things like chilli that would last a couple of days.   Since we have been retired, my husband has helped me dump things in the slow cooker.    He could probably do it himself.  

There is a lady on Pinterest that posted a lot of freezer meals.   Some  are even vegetarian.

http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com/2015/10/slow-cooker-freezer-meals-20-meals-for-under-120.html

Some of these are really looking good.   Some, not so much.    A lot take a chicken breast, cubed.  An easy task with boneless chicken breasts ( made from chicken split breasts) .  That keeps the chicken at about a dollar for a whole large breast.   The quantity may be enough to make more than one meal.

  My budget on the seventies for protein at a meal was two dollars for two adults and a small child.   The prices have skyrocketed since then.  I could get hambirger for .69 , Tuna was .28, chicken parts could be as low as .10.   I still use two dollars as a guideline.  We have two adults and a small child eating meat.  Our daughter is a vegetarian and eats more of the vegetables.  The difference is that we eat less meat (more healthy) and we eat different cuts of meat and supplement vegetarian two nights a week.

The best advice I could give someone that has to make a life change is to learn to roll with the punches.   Pick yourself up, and put your big person pants on and be creative.    I can't bend at the waist after hip surgery.   You would really be surprised what one can do with their toes-- the dustpan on a stick from the dollar tree helps too.   LOL.

I once cooked a huge package of chicken necks amd pulled the meat off of them.  They were .10 a pound and I spent .35.   I added white sauce and chopped mushrooms and filled home made manicotti  aka pasta rolls.    A little nutmeg and parsley goes a long ways.

In the 70s liver was supposed to be good for you.  You could get a cottage cheese sized container for .35.   My mother always made it with tomato and green pepper and braised it.   You could cut it with a fork.    My sister used to make chicken gizzard speghetti.    There so a lot you can do when you are just plain under water on your budget.  

Thankfully, there were times when being frugal with the budget was a game and not something I just had to do.    And, I have a bit more money so we can eat better and normal food on a really limited budget.    Last year my average was 68.00 a week.   This year so far it has been 63.00 a week.   That's a compilation of a years worth of food divided by 52 weeks.    That does not include beverages other than coffee and tea, and it doesn't count the few times we went out to dinner- that's the entertainment budget.   That feeds the two of us and supplements daughter and granddaughter.  To benchmark. The USDA stats for my husband and I is almost a hundred dollars a week.  They consider food eaten at home, that doesn't include keeping a stockpile.   Our pantry is full and the freezers are pretty full too. I have restocked a lot since the freezer quit.    That bumped up our grocery totals a lot as well as buying ten pounds of oatmeal amd twenty-five pounds of rice, amd a big jar of popcorn.   Two batches of hamburger and two packages of chicken breast.

Winco had chicken quarters for .39 a pound.   I was hesitant and didn't buy them because we don't like dark meat that well and I don't know where it has been.   I am a chicken snob.  I will only buy chicken grown and processed in the PNW.   ( Idaho and California are OK in a pinch. ) I have reasons I won't discuss here.

On another note, the FDA has come out with the same guidelines for raw flour as for raw meat.  Don't eat raw dough, wash the utensils and cutting boards or counters thorally after baking.  I always disinfect the counter tops.   I use a spray bottle with dishwashing soap, water, and  hydrogen peroxide.  Best to wear an old apron because like bleach, it will bleach your clothes.   Hydrogen peroxide is really cheap.  You can get a big bottle at the dollar tree- aka the tree.     They also have spray bottles and 100 percent cotton t shirts.   I wear them whenever I'm doing anything nasty in the
house.  It's so much less traumatic of you ruin a dollar t shirt than ruining a expensive well liked top.


Dollar tree is supposed to, according to u tubers that do dollar tree hauls, have grab bags for 2/1.  They sold for a lot more.   They fit across the sides of the grocery cart and hold your food.   They have done studies on the basket where you put your purse and the bottom of the grocery cart.    It often has feces germs on it.    We are putting our veggies in that cart and then transferring them  to the conveyor belt.   Regardless of wanting to save the planet, put your veggies in plastic bags. Your families health comes first.  E. coli is just plain nasty.   Having the bags keeps your food off the bottom of the cart.  

Just a note. I once got a hamburger from Burger King .  It was not cooked thorally.  I discovered ot two bites in when I got a mushy bite.   I spit  it out.  Regardless , I was so sick.   I would never like to go through that again.  I haven't been back to Burger King since.

There is a lot of listeria and E. coli recalls lately.   Cook things thorally .  Wash your veggies with vinegar water.   Clean your counters often, and use new rags often.  I get school bus yellow rags from the automotive department at Costco.   Their cheap and I use several during my cooking sessions.  Another reason to batch cook.   Meat is cooked, batched, and put in the freezer.   You don't have raw meat hanging around several days -just one cooking session.

Grocery haul - stock up sale.

QFC grocery haul.   Saved a lot.  Used five dollar coupons.    Lunch entrees were .88.   Doughnuts 2.00.   Vegetables a dollar, cheese , sliced cheese, sargento  for  2.00.    Blue bunny ice cream were 1.00 off two.   You can do well with this sale and  coupons.  There are coupons for BBQ sauce, cheese, Cheerios, and vegetables.  


The dollar store was supposed to have  two canvas grocery bags that hang on the grocery cart.    They didn't have any.  They also doesn't have any berry boxes.   Our dollar tree is about the worst of all of them.    I walked out without spending anything.

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective.
The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until ot goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis.

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week.
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level.

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by cooking more efficiently.

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck.

Best plans....sometimes change

There is a saying, failing to plan is to plan to fail.    Meal plans are a necessary part of saving money on food.    We don't get down to what to have specifically each particular day.mdexoding on the morning taking into consideration the weather and what our day is like activity wise,  

That being said, there is always room for change,    I discovered while cleaning the pantry yesterday , that we have yummy roasted red pepper and tomato soup.   I also have half and half on the fridge.   I think we will have tomato, basil and blue cheese soup and toasted  cheese or cheezy Bisquits instead of split pea soup.  

There is a good buy six,mace three sake at QFC.   There are coupons to go with the sales, so if you choose wisely, you can score big savings,   I am not going to go because our pantry is full and we don't need any more.    So, I will virtual shop.  

BBQ sauce ref 1.59. On sale for .99 a coupons for 100 off three.   Reg 4.77. Pay 1.97 savings 2.80

Cheerios regular  1.99.    On sale, coupons nets 199.  Savings in two.     1.98

Steam fresh veggies 1.99.  On sale with coupon.   .99.   Save 2.00

Total savings 6.78.   Retail 11.14.  

Savings 61 percent.  

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective.
The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until ot goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis.

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week.
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level.

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by cooking more efficiently.

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck.

The best of the ads

usually a holiday week end is not a good stock weekend.  It is,  however a good weekend to look for picnic supplies to stock.   It's usually the lowest price you will ever see during the year.  

Alberways.

7 percent ground beef 3.76
Hillshire farms smoked sausage

Corn 3/1
Top round 3.99
Dryers 2/6  - note Tillamook is 2/5 before Saturday.  


Friday deals
Doughnuts


QFC

Buy 6. Save 3.   This is usually not a great bargain unless you can stack coupons.   Net prices

Cheerios.....1.49$$ coupons for 1.00 on 2 makes them a dollar.  

Hillshire farm smoked sausage 1.99

FrenchS  mustard .99.

Birds eye steam fresh 1.49. There are coupons for 1.00 off two. Makes them a dollar.  

Sweet baby rays BBQ sauce -there are coupons for 100 off three net notice before coupons is .99.   After coupons .66.  



Better buys in veggies at Winco.  
Mustard is .79 at Fred Meyers

Note: I have target prices ( nothing to do with the store with the big red balls.) .   If something is way over a target price, I don't list it.

I try for under two dollars a pound for meat.   Average.  
A dollar a pound for veggies
Canned soup has to be under .75




Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 
The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until ot goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Wonderful Wednesday

It's going to be hot again today.    I don't pay much attention to the weather when I did the meal plans.   Yesterday, we went to happy hour with friends.   My daughter made vegetarian tacos.   ( black beans, onions, and  red peppers.    I think we will do chicken stir fry tonight.   When I batch cooked chicken breast, I divided the breasts and cooked the bones that I had left a lot of meat on.   The meat from the bones netted two cups of pieces.   I averaged - little more than .50 a meal for chicken and chicken breast.  

I was watching a u tube about summer recipes.    The lady cut stars out of watermelon- a neat idea for 4th of July!   She also wrapped her ingredients for foil packets for the girl, first on parchment, and then in foil.   There is some concern that cooking in aluminum has a link to memory loss.

FYI.  A lot of the recipes I post could be enhanced with the addition of onion.   My husband won't eat onions, green  peppers or mushrooms.   I compensate for the onions with onion powder or cook with very large pieces of onion that I can remove before serving.  I use red or orange peppers and no mushrooms.   Celery is a good substitute for mushrooms to add back the bulk that the mushrooms would have supplied.

Which  brings me to a concept that my daughter hasn't learned yet.   Other than baking recipes that take chemistry to make things rise, recipes can be altered of you don't have an ingredient, or an ingredient is too pricey.  You can substitute onion strips with onion powder,nor grate an onion if someone doesn't like to bite into an onion.   I use celery often to create the bulk of a vegetable that is too pricy.   A lot of fresh fruit can be substituted with canned. Rinse canned fruit under cold water and don't use the liquid from the can.   That reduces the sugar a lot.  

We had to throw away the stir fry veggies from Costco because they were recalled.   We are going to use celery, carrot, and peppers.    I will add top ramen noodles, cooked without the seasoning packet ( too much salt.   I also have some broccoli.    I don't have snow peas, so I'll sub broccoli.  

Don't throw away the baby with the bath water.    Just because a good recipe calls for a pricy or other ingredient you either don't like or don't have, if it's. It the main ingredient, punt!  

I always have chicken granules ( low sodium) better than boullion, and vegetable granules.   They are always at the ready and far cheaper than the canned or boxed alternatives.   I also make stock when I'm batch cooking.   Our great grandmothers made vegetable stock from the peelings.   I don't do it because that's where a lot of the pesticide residue is.   I have taken to washing my veggies in vinegar water.   I have a brush I got from the dollar tree ( it's a cute lady bug ) that I use to scrub inky vegetables.    You can stick it on the top rack of the dishwasher.    I only use it for vegetables.     I use a brush that holds liquid soap for cleaning baked on grime.  It os a Brillo brand and is at the dollar tree too.    It saves my nails and does a great job.  

I make a mix to replace cream soups.   I only buy cream soups about thanksgiving time with a coupon,  This saves about a dollar a can.   The mix saves more.  

We care try much stick to the basics in veggies.  We use the fresh more pricy  veggies for a treat.   I want the granddaughter to be introduced to a wide variety of food.   We just can't afford on a strict low budget to have those things every day.   Besides the fact that grandpa wouldn't eat it.  

By paying 1/2 price for your food, you can afford a trmemT every now and then.   I found a personal watermelon for a dollar.   It was just right for five of us to have watermelon.   Watermelon is full of
sugar and one of the highest in the glycemic index.

We pretty much stick to

1. Carrots
2. Celery 
3. Peppers 
4. Green beans 
5. Corn 
6. Peas 
7. Apples 
8. Grapes 
9. Tomatoes 
10. Lettuce
11. Romaine 
12. Cucumbers 
13. English cucumbers 
14. Cantaloupe in season
15. Cabbage if I hubby ate it. 
16. Berries in season 
17. Blueberries 
18. Potatoes 
19. Red potatoes on occasion 
20. Corn on the cob in season 
21. Bananas 

I probably forgot something.   You can post more on the comments of you like.   

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 
The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until ot goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen )by cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Dinner

last night we had hamburgers, French  fries and fruit salad and corn on the cob.   My daughter substituted a veggie Berger.    That was still close to a five dollar dinner.  

Four people. One meal. Five bucks.    Five dollars is my cost limit (-average ) for the four of us.  That's a target amount in order to stick to a four dollar a day budget.   We actually eat well on less than a four dollar a day budget.    The trick is to pay 1/2 price for your food, it takes some work.   I post my hauls and what I find to take some of the work out of it for some people in the Seattle area.

For the most part, I have concluded that the fresh food market is more expensive  and lesser quality than Winco.    Winco and Fred Meyers are the lowest price source seen.

Grocery outlet is more expensive on  a lot of things-- you can still find a sleeper every now and then.   Usually, I know that the sliced cheese is 2.39.   Coffee is sometimes cheaper.   They have date related mark downs -- really cheap.   Check the dates.   Sometimes  it's a matter of changing meal plans to use it up. They had mayonaise for 3/97.   It was really stale dated  and I didn't know how long safe was.   When in doubt, throw it out rules applied, we didn't get it.   Coffee used to be cheaper,I check every time.

There are a few American brands of things  at the dollar store.   The dollar store takes coupons.   Watch pull dates. Watch package sizes.  Watch the product origin.  ( China has a bar code starting with a 6, or 47 .   Some prices are more than the grocery store.   Their cheese isn't always real cheese.
Some of it is  junk food and some of it is convenience food this better made scratch.

I go to Alberways if they have a bulk sale that makes sense--especially of it is enhanced with a basket coupon.

I hear the Asian market has good prices.  We don't eat a lot of Asian food, but we are low on soy sauce, so I might do some price comparison.   My husband makes beef jerky and uses a lot.

Costco is best for dairy unless there is a big sale , bananas, oatmeal, and bulk sausage.

No store has the best prices on everything.   The best you can do is to pick the two chain stores that best suit your needs by carrying the items you buy most often.  Do a SAMs club or Costco run for bulk items once a month or so.  That should give  you the most bang for your buck without spending an exorbitant amount of time shopping, plan your trips and go with a good idea (list) of what you are looking for-- even if that "list" is a vague.....stock meat, and veggies to go with meals.  

I know when I'm walking into a store, what I angling to buy.  Unless a real bargain gets up and jumps at me, or so,etching really looks nasty, I am probably going to stick to the list.   Example--  by grouping like things in the fridge and freezer, I can tell at a glance what we need soon.   I walked onto Winco, tater tots were 1.28 for two pounds.  Anything under a dollar a pound for frozen veggies or potatoes is a bargain.   I bought ine so we could try the out. They turned out tasting fine, they were just a little thinner than the name brand.   I liked that because they cooked faster.

Get in a store, get what you need, amd get out. The more time you spend in a store, the more money you will spend.


Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 
The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until ot goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Each or per pound.

My daughter went to the fresh food stand.    Came bought a lot of veggies to juice.  she said that peppers were .69 each.

We were going to town to run an errand,.  I stopped at th dollar tree/ grocery outlet , the fresh veggie stand and Winco because we were out of ice cream.   Ice crea, that is low carb is a good desert for me.   It has a good balance of sugar, fat, and protein.  

Peppers were 1.25 at grocery outlet.   There were bags of yellow peppers. Bit, lone knew how much they cost.   They did have the sliced cheese we normally get for 2.39 And  I got diet cranberry juice inexpensive - 3'carbs a glass.  

Peppers at the fresh fruit stand were 1.98 a pound except green peppers.    My husband won't eat green peppers.     We found cheap cherries,

Winco had cheaper prices on almost every veggie and fruit than the fresh food market.    I got cantaloupe for .58 a pound.    Raspberries. And peppers for .88.   And the hamburger buns were .68.  
I didn't buy them, but plums and nectarines were cheaper too.   I didn't spend much, but filled in cheese and produce, dairy.  

When something is priced per pound.  It pays to weigh the item.   It may be cheaper somewhere else proces each.  


Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 
The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until ot goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen ) by cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Costco

ot seems almost impossible to get out of Costco for under a hundred dollars.   I did it.....but not by much! LOL.  It was one of those to,Es when we needed to stock on some things that last far more than a month.    It is sooo much cheaper that it is worth the investment.   

Rice is a lot cheaper.    I thought that twenty five pounds was a lot of rice, but we had gone through ten pounds in a couple off months.    I did try every recipe and every way to cook rice until I got a rice that was easy and to our liking.    It finally came down to using a black and decker 16.00 rice cooker.   I have a very large rice cooker, but for four of us, this is a better option.   

Popcorn is 12.00 for a gallon sized container.   That lasts a really long time.   If you factor in how many bags of potato chips and the like you can get for 12.00 even at grocery outlet, it's not hard to see the savings.    Not to mention the fact that it is better for you.    If you air pop ( Kohls  for 15.00) the corn, you can control the butter and salt -- no harsh chemicals that microwave popcorn has.   

Over the counter , Doctor prescribed medicine is a lot cheaper.    So much cheaper that I got a years supply of one of them for three dollars more than a month copay.   It pays to investigate.    My entire SSA check goes for medical, I save as much as I can to reverse that statistic.  It also reduced the amount the insurance pays, and stretches out the doughnut hole.   

Dawn dishwashing soap is the only kind I will buy.  It a lot cheaper on the gallon type jug.   We fill a glass bottle ( shaped like a fish) with it and I lit a bar-those dispenser top on it.    It makes washing dishes easy,   The other thing that makes cleaning pans easier and less harsh in your manicure, is a Brillo brush that you can fill with soap.  ( dollar tree) . 

I priced the cost of bulk pinto beans.   They are more expensive than at the dollar store.   And, yes, they are grown in the USA and have no GMO.   5 cups of beans to a package makes them twenty cents a cup.   

I got ten pounds of organic carrots.    When I got home, I chopped what we had in the produce drawer and bagged them for the freezer.  They are ready for soup.   I also cut celery that speared on my fridge amd froze it.    

My daughter bought a huge bag of fruit at the fresh food stand so we washed it all its vinegar and she juiced a lot.  Peppers were .69 for really big ones.  

I digress 

Hamburger patties were 2.50 a pound in the frozen food section.    Hamburger bins are cheapest at Winco.   You have to look for them.  The more expensive ones are up front.   The smaller ones we prefer ( less carbs) are parallel to the checkouts and further south than the entrance.   

Bananas are always cheaper and not fluctuate with prices through the year.   

About all.     

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 
The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until ot goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Meal plans

Went to Costco.   We were running low on big staple items.   Dawn, popcorn, rice.   

Meal plans using what I have in stock.    

1. Breakfast for dinner - bacon, eggs, raspberry muffins, fruit.   
2. Split pea soup.  Cheezy biscuits  ( use carrots and celery in freezer 
3. Tacos or pizza 
4. Hamburgers , suddenly salad, fruits - hamburger patties were 249- a pound at Costco.  
5. BBQ chicken parts , fries, salad ( thighs) 
6. Fish packets ( green beans ) 
7. Sausage w root vegetables, roasted (radish) 
8. Chicken stir fry and noodles.  ( ramen) 

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 
The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until ot goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

The ads

Fred Meyers Fourth of July ad   TOMORROW

As usual, the holiday is not the best time for bargains, except for picnic supplies.  

• Personal watermelon.  1.99 
• Cherries 1.88
• Tillamook ice cream 2/5@@
• Zucchini .99
• Best foods 2.39@@
• Mustard .79@@
• BBQ sauce .79@@
• Strawberries 3.99
• Corn 5/2 ( .40 each) 
• Coffee 4.99

That's about all.   

If  I was going to pick a rotation, it would be chicken breast ( last day today ) at Fred Meyers and/or 20 percent hambirger in chubs at Safeways.   Safeways also has a basket coupon for 3.00 on just for u.   Of your careful, that makes your meat 2.00 a pound.  Be sure to de-fat it.   Sloppy joes are cheaper than hamburger patties.   Don't buy the sauce in a can.   Homemade is a lot cheaper.  I use a recipe that calls for a base of catsup with mustard, water, and liquid smoke.    

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 

The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until ot goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Facts of life.....

I was watching a untie last night...couldn't sleep.... A lady was talking about why she stocks and doesn't coupon.    I disagree.  You can look for sales and still coupon,,,,double dipping discounts is great.    But, she said something really profound......they were trying to pay off debt load.  She could either work more, or spend less and spending less seemed to be easier.    Working more when I was a single mom would have been finding more daycare, paying more daycare , amd not giving my child my quality time.

Despite the fact that the congress doesn't think the COL went up this year, our mandatory expenses have gone up sixteen hundred dollars.   On our budget that's a lot of money.  That is almost my husband's entire pension for the year.    Since we are getting too old to work amd we have a four year old we are responsible for every afternoon, the only thing left is to spend less.  

Because I have already cut our food bill in half, it is a real adventure to cut in more.    But, cutting it more will give readers more ideas to cut their food bill.  If you are on snap, it might afford you the luxury of a stockpile or the opportunity to have a special treat some of the time.    Having a stockpile gives you the satisfaction of a job well done as well as the security of knowing there is food in the house im case something goes south......and you can't get to a store.  

A lot of grocery stores have been closed because of Safeways and Albertsons merging.   Fortunately, it was because there was another store close buy, but that give you less competition or choices .   Both stores are keeping their names, but the ad prices are the same.  I've taken to calling it alberways .  I don't see the benefit of the redundance of posting both stores ads.   LOL?

 My next step is to cook from scratch efficiently some of the things that I bought ready made previously. I have tried  and succeeded at refried beans that are not fried.    I started making or bread.
It's a lot cheaper even than the bakery outlet.     I made breadsticks in the bread machine. It still took several hours. Pizza dough was almost as long  I was able to put the raw dough in the refrigerator and  Roll it out later.

 It is still possible to get some mixes and barbecue sauce cheaper then cooking scratch. I got barbecue sauce for $.55  memorial day weekend with coupons. Picnic supplies are best stocked on summer holidays.   Using coupons cuts the cost more.    I have got catsup for as low as .75 with no preservatives.   BBQ sauce, the best brand was .55.   Mustard is on sale at Fred Meyers.  You can get these for a dollar at the dollar store year round.    They even have the designer types  of mustard.  

I am sure that scratch cakes are cheaper than mixes, even though I lay a dollar or less for mixes.  I do keep a yellow cake mix on hand because I want the capability of a easy fast desert.     Apple dump cake from Betty Crocker is easy, fast, amd less sugar than other dump cakes.    I'm not fond  of the sugar or price of canned pie filling.    It bumps up the price and plain apples are more desirable,   There is plenty of sugar in the cake mix.

There are recipes for your own cookie and cornbread mixes on the Internet.   I have not priced them, but I would assume that you can buy the ingredients for less money,  

Prices are strange.   Sometomes logic doesn't hold true,   Case in point,  bulk pinto beans are more expensive at Winco in the bulk isle  than the two pound bag at the dollar store.    That price is even cheaper than buying a twenty five pound bag at Costco.     Save your storage space for the things that pay you to buy in bulk.  Rice is cheaper in bulk at Costco.  I , fortunately saved pickle Lars from way back when they came in glass.   We used to have a second big fridge and could keep a gallon of pickles.   With three kids in the house, we went through a lot of pickles.    Now they come on plastic and you probably couldn't get the smell out of it.

You can't always assume that  bigger is better and a calculator from the dollar store can be your best friend,   Costco breaks down unit proces  in ounces.   That makes it hard to compare cans of things.
It's great for dry goods and dishwasher pods, but not much help with cans,   I, constantly doing the math,

One last note.  Proces on cherries are per pound usually, not per bag and weight can tricky,   The bags I checked were almost ten dollars.    Buyer beware!  




Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 
The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until ot goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck. 

Dinner......and other notes

We went to Dollar  tree yesterday.  I ran out of rug cleaner and need to clean the stairs .   I also ran out of cupcake liners and had made delicious raspberry muffins with the fleishmans  muffin mix from dollar  tree.  It takes vanilla Greek  yogurt.  

I priced the pinto beans,   They are made in USA and nonGMO.   They are cheaper than Costco's bulk, and cheaper than Wincos bulk.  --.50 a lb.   

There are a few things at dollar tree that are cheaper and work as well as anything else on the market.  

I'm not inclined to buy cheap throw away toys.   The workbooks, on the other hand, are very good.    

You can find good expensive books there,.   The cleaning products are good for the most part.   They carry Brillo products.   I bought a brunch that holds liquid soap.   It's really handy for ore long stuck on thing before the dishwasher.    I keep ot on a small pitcher that sits on the counter.   

They have name brand cosmetics and soaps.   Watch the quantities.   Some are smaller.   Bar soap is name brands,    

Betty Crocker kitchen implements are good.  The measuring cups and spoons can't go in the dishwasher well.  The markings wash off.   But the kitchen shears are good and I like to have several pairs.  When I'm cooking, I change them out often.  I don't want to cross contaminate- especially when I'm cooking meat.   I put them through the dishwasher with the blades separated .   Great for cutting chives or parsley.   They have a small spatula that works great for small jars.   

Some of the things are made in China.   I avoid China made food.   As for other products.  Take a look at the things I your grocery store,    They are made on China too.  So, why pay more-- especially if it is something you are going to throw away...single use items like cupcake liners.    

Sundry items are almost never cheaper at the grocery store.   They are there for convenience and convenience almost always starts with $$$.    

Rarely, does something  made for saving you time, save you money too.    The price of pasta sauce with coupons or on sale with coupons is a rare exception.   By the time you buy the tomatoes to make sauce, you can spend more than ready made.    I got Alfredo sauce for .48 a jar.   The cheese and the cream would cost more.    If you are a foodie and have th Bucks it might be worth it,, but we neither have the excess money nor are we really particular.  It has to taste good, but gourmet isn't our middle name,   LOL.  

I can cut up my own fruit. I control how I clean it and how big the pieces are and it's lots cheaper.   

Studies have proven that washed greens are cleaner than of you wash them at home.   They tested washed greens,  then, they washed the greens.   They had more germs after washing than before.   

I can't spend all day in the  kitchen and I am retired.  I would venture to bet that working mothers can't either, besides working, they have to shop, pay bills, clean house, and take children where they need to be-- not to mention the laundry.   Been there, done that,  you can involve children in cooking.  There  is a lot of lessons to be learned -- everything from how to fold on an ingredient to fractions in measuring,   Some adults I've seen on u tube don't know the difference between a liquid measuring cup and a dry one.   Glass measuring cups are for liquids because you can get a more accurate measurement .  Dry measures fill to the top and you can level them with a case knife.   Also, of you are baking and have two liquid ingredients  , you can use the same cup and bring the sewing ingredient to the combined total measurement.  IE measure 1/2 cup of oil, then if the recipe calls for 1/4 cup of water. Add water to the 3/4 line. 

I usually mix all the wet ingredients and then all the dry ingredients in different bowls.   Them fold one onto the other.   Over mixing makes the dough tough.   I also break eggs in a separate bowl just in case one is bad.   Mesinplas bowls are 4/1 at the dollar store. 

Also, over mixing your mixture of ground meat can make it tough too.    

Speaking if meat, jenne-0 turkey bacon is at the dollar store.   Eggs are at the dollar store for a buck a dozen,   Also. They are a dollar at Walgreens this week too.   Dollar store also has Betty Crocker mixes, uncle ben's rice, zatarans , Libby's,   There are other things on the freezer that are name brands, be careful, they are sometimes more expensive than the regular store.   Name brand catsup is always a buck.   I have got ot for .80 at Safeways lately.    The BBQ sauce is more expensive at dollar tree than on sale .   Hunts  pasta sauce is more expensive too.    

The linens at the dollar store are poor quality.   The Best Buy I have found for kitchen linens is to buy seasonal , holiday linens at a regular store or Joanne's -- past the season.   They are marked down sometimes  as low as 90 percent.   They dry the dishes, who cares what print they have on them.  You can out out whatever season is aooropriate and use the rest.    My mother one time got towels with turning leaves on them for a dime.  She bought each of we three girls and herself ten of them.  Virtually, four of us got 40 towels for the price of one or two.  

Now you know where I learned to shop wisely.   LOL.   

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the "put the meal on the table train" from  a different perspective. 
The emphasis is on purchasing good shelf stable or frozen food  for a RBP in quantity - enough to last you until ot goes on sale again or to keep a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you  use  on a weekly basis. 

This means that instead of shopping daily or weekly for just the things you need to cook your meals for the week. You go to two stores and buy :
1) a protein that is a RBP - enough to make that meal for x number of days. (I.e.: if you eat it once a week, buy enough for 4 meals.)
2) produce and dairy you will need to fill in the meals for the week. 
3) a stock item, if you need to and it is on a RBP - enough to fill in to your self imposed stock level. 

You often are paying 1/2 price for your food.   This allows you to put well-balanced meals on the table consistently on a four dollar a day per person budget.   You spend more time on the locomotive ( planning and shopping ) end of the train, and less time in the caboose ( kitchen j) by cooking more efficiently. 

 Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on 4 dollars a day, spending more is not difficult and you still get more nutrition for your buck.